Wil Myers Impresses in Team USA’s Route

For Royals fans, the 2012 All-Star Future’s Game holds more clout than any other All-Star Weekend event. Afterall, we have no representatives in the Home Run Derby (thanks, Robinson Cano…) and only one team representative in the All-Star game – a game that will be played in our own stadium. Billy Butler will most likely see as much as one at-bat in tomorrow night’s game, likely as a late game pinch-hitter. So pardon us if we’d rather pay attention to a game where three of our guys– not including Team USA manager and HOFer George Brett – would be playing in an exciting (though meaningless to some) game in front of a sold-out crowd in a stadium that we hope to see them in real soon.

Photo Credit: David Eulitt

That’s right. Sold out.

A roaring crowd of 40,095 (a record, by the way) at the K gave each of Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, and Yordano Ventura a standing ovation upon taking the field Sunday afternoon. Odorizzi even took a moment to remove his cap and acknowledge the hometown fans before throwing the first pitch of the game – a 73 mph curveball for a strike to Angels prospect Jean Segura.

Starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi in the 1st inning for the USA Team. Photo Credit: US Presswire

Team USA fell behind early when Jake Odorizzi gave up a one-out solo homerun down the right field line to Rangers top prospect (who Keith Law ranks as his #2 prospect behind Dylan Bundy of the Orioles) Jurickson Profar.

Another Royals farmhand got the starting nod for the game. Young right-hander Yordano Ventura, a native of the Dominican Republic, started the game for the World Team, and lit up the radar guns. Three different times during his perfect frame, Ventura dialed up triple-digit fastballs while getting the top third of Team USA’s order to each groundout.

Yordano Ventura delivers a pitch in the 1st inning as the starter for the World Team. Photo Credit: John Sleezer / The Kansas City Star

But the real star of the game, as far as Royals prospects go, was Wil Myers. As Myers made his way to the batter’s box, the crowd once again rose to their feet, giving Wil his second standing-o of the afternoon. Outside of the All-Star Game itself, this has been the most highly anticipated moment in Kansas City for the past month or so. His first AB resulted in a groundout to third base.

Center fielder Wil Myers breaks his bat while singling to left field in the 7th inning. Photo Credit: John Sleezer / The Kansas City Star

He tied up the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the 3rd inning with a RBI groundout. After the 4th inning, substitutions were abound. But manager George Brett knew what the sellout crowd at The K wanted to see. So instead of taking Wil Myers out of the game, Brett opted to shift him from right field to center field, where he spent the rest of the game.Wil collected his first hit of the game in the bottom of the 5th, added a run with a sac-fly in a nine-run 6th inning, and slapped a broken-bat single into left to complete his night at the plate. All in all, Wil went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored. It was a solid game for him in front of 40,000 fans who are ready for him to be in the big league lineup everyday.The final score was completely lopsided: a 17-5 victory for the USA.

Much to my dismay, however, Dayton Moore did announce that both Myers and Odorizzi will head back to Omaha following the break – though I have no doubt that both of them will be playing in Kansas City soon.